Last Night: Alanis Morissette at the Paramount
Alanis parodying the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps"
Who: Alanis Morissette
Where: The Paramount
When: 8 p.m. Wed., November 4, 2008
I was 11 when Alanis Morissette released her monumental album Jagged Little Pill. (It remains the bestselling debut album ever by a female artist stateside.) I didn’t know what she was talking about when she screamed “Would she go down on you in a theater?” in the sensational “You Oughta Know.” But I gathered that she was incredibly pissed off at some douche bag. And I dug it. I used to keep a cassette tape in my boom box so that I could record Alanis whenever she came on air. Then I’d rewind and push play… over and over again.
I was excited to see Alanis last night. I KNEW she had to be good. I mean, with her ridiculously sexy ex-fiancé Ryan Reynolds going off and marrying Scarlet Johansson in Canada, she HAD to be pissed. And pissed off Alanis is the best kind of Alanis.
At the start of the night Alanis stormed onto the stage with an awesome electric guitar and bass filled rendition of “Uninvited.” She twirled in crazy circles like a tribal dancer and whipped around her mane of hair like a stripper. She did a handful of songs off her new album Flavors of Entanglement and then she sang a slew of older hits including “Head Over Feet,” “So Pure, and (yes!) “You Oughta Know.”
I wouldn’t have minded if she’d played some more stuff from her other albums, but hey, Jagged Little Pill is still the way to go if you wanna rouse up a crowd. People were going nuts. During the encore, which consisted of “You Learn” and “Ironic,” the entire Paramount stood up and sang along. Alanis pretty much stopped singing at that point and just laughed. Oh Alanis, even when you’re smiling, I love you!
Two tiny things that put a damper on the night:
1) There was a woman holding a baby thrashing around like she was in a mosh pit during a song or two. This poor baby looked absolutely devastated and was attracting way more attention than Alanis at one point as people gaped and pointed. I don’t have kids and even I know—don’t shake your baby!
2) My mom flew into town just a couple hours prior to the show so I had to take her with me. (Boo, no drinking for me.) She’s Japanese and knows like, two Alanis songs—the ones I played as kid on my boom box. I saw her check her fucking watch a total of eighteen times. She also complained that she didn’t know we were going to a “heavy metal” show. Oh, mom.
5 comment(s)
Enough says:
Stop using the word "douche bag" already. It's resurgence is already tired and old. Nobody uses it more than the writers at the Weekly.
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 6 2008 @ 9:39AM
Anonymous says:
I was disappointed in the performance. Her stage presence was amazing but I believe she has much better material than Jagged Little Pill. Her new album is my favorite and she only played 4 songs from it. In my opinion her focus should have been songs from Flavors of Entanglement.
From a true Alanis fan!!
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 6 2008 @ 10:42AM
sara says:
HEAVY METAL! hahahahahahahahaha
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 6 2008 @ 12:13PM
DG says:
My thoughts on the show (from the 8th row, my first time seeing Alanis perform live):
Alanis got off to a slow start (didn't really seem into the performance) but about 1/3 of the way through the set, her voice really started to shine. I'm not a big fan of her stage presence and sometimes even find it distracting, but it works for some other people.
Her band is tremendous (particularly the drummer) and over-all my wife and I really enjoyed the concert.
The highlight of the night for me was when they re-configured the typical stage set down to a more stripped-down version and played songs in a more "casual" format. They really looked like they were having a great time.
The lady (and her husband) with the young baby should have been asked to leave by the Paramount staff. A totally irresponsible act on their part to bring a young child to such a loud event. Certainly not a metal show but at times it was deafening in there.
Posted On: Saturday, Nov. 8 2008 @ 9:09PM
Hope says:
I can't seem to remember the opening act... Would someone please let me know.
Thank you!
PS I waited until the very end of the show and saw the dumb mom walking up with her baby and hubby and gave them really dirty looks... I thought babies in arms were not permitted, right?
Posted On: Monday, Nov. 24 2008 @ 7:33PM